本計畫主要的目的是檢驗企業所面臨的財務限制如何影響其勞動雇用調整速度。基於勞動經濟學的「勞動窖藏」理論，我們可以預期，在景氣衰退期間，如果企業勞動窖藏的策略得以實施，不僅勞動縮減速度會較緩慢，同時在企業感受到景氣回穩之後，因為具備衰退期間所保留的勞動力，勞動擴張的速度也會較為緩慢；換言之，穩定的勞動雇用得以維持。然而，勞動窖藏和資本投資性質相似，留任更多員工的企業在短期內必須承擔更高的薪資成本，而其收益來自於未來需求回升時所獲得的較低招募與培訓成本；因此，勞動窖藏的未來收益必須用現有的資金來融通。所以，如果企業的內部或外部融資受到限制，囤積勞動力的可能性將降低，穩定的勞動雇用無法維持，勢必有較快速的勞動雇用調整。本計畫將以2008年金融危機之後的全球經濟衰退期間，台灣企業在2008–2016間的勞動雇用為研究對象，檢驗企業財務限制對於其勞動雇用調整之影響。在這期間，台灣的企業普遍面臨信貸配額或高貸款利率，外部或內部融資能力不足的企業，不太可能實現勞動窖藏，因此預期將會有較快速的勞動雇用調整。本計畫擬建立勞動雇用調整速度的「部分調整模型」，分別運用「一般動差母函數法」與「多層混合效果模型」的估計方法進行計量分析。勞動與財務領域的結合是近年來一項新興的研究課題，本計畫分析企業財務壓力與勞動雇用調整的關係，在學術上希望對這一新的研究課題有所貢獻，而在實務上，研究結果也可以做為企業在景氣衰退期間進行人力策略調整的參考。 ;The purpose of this study is to examine how the financial constraints that a firm faces affect the speed of its employment adjustment. The relationship between financial constraints and employment decisions can stem from the concept of labor hoarding. The concept suggests that costs associated with hiring, firing, and training employees lead employers who maximize profits to maintain a labor force larger than is technically necessary in response to short-term downturns in demand. However, financial constraints arising from a firm's restricted capacity to borrow are a limitation of labor hoarding. Finance is a key determinant of firm-level employment decisions because when financing is constrained, firms must adjust the capital and labor in relation to production. Labor hoarding and capital investment are similar in character. Firms that retain more workers than necessary must bear higher wage costs in the short term. The gains from labor hoarding emerge through lower recruitment and training costs when demand returns in the future. Thus, future gains from labor hoarding must be financed in the present day. When finances become constrained, firms cannot hoard as much labor as they desire and may be unable to stabilize employment. I will investigate the speeds of employment adjustment for a sample of Taiwanese manufacturing firms from 2008 to 2016. The 2008 financial crisis caused a downturn in worldwide economic activity. One real effect of the global financial crisis was the shortage of liquidity in the financial market. Firms in Taiwan were generally confronted with credit rations or credit granted with higher interest rates than before the crisis. The ability of firms to hoard labor and maintain employment stability was significantly influenced by the financial constraints they faced. Therefore, we expect that firms with more financial constraints will have higher employment adjustment speeds. This study will use a partial adjustment model for the adjustment of employment, and carry out the estimation by the generalized method of moments and multilevel mixed-effects. The research on labor and finance has been an emerging research topic in recent years. This study hopes to make contributions to this new research topic, and in practice, to provide advice to the firms intending to adjust their employment during the economic downturns.
